Chain tool carrier with longitudinally overlapping cutters



Sept. 1l, 1962 c. D. NlTcHlE 3,053,130

CHAIN TOOL CARRIER WITH LONGITUDINALLY OVERLAPPING CUTTERS Filed June 3, 1958 INVENTOR. C'f/eR/.e s D. /Y-z' Tcl/1&1

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Patented sept. 11, 1962 3,053,130 CHAIN TOOL CARRIER WITH LONGITUDINALLY VERLAPPING CUTTERS Charles D. Nitchie, Baltimore, Md., assigner to Koppers Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Fied June 3, 1958, Ser. No. 739,626 8 Claims. (Cl. 83-326) This invention relates to machinery used in the shipping container industry and more particularly to an apparatus for cutting slots in corrugated fiber material used in making shipping containers.

In the manufacture of corrugated fiber shipping containers, suitable reciprocating feed mechanisms sequentially pass flat box blanks, cut to the proper dimensions, into a conventional printer-slotter machine. The latter machine prints, creases, and slots the box blanks at suitable locations to form top and bottom flaps for folding into linished boxes. Slotting is conventionally accomplished by suitably located tangentially opposed rotatable top and bottom slotter heads. ri`he top head on its periphery carries one or more knife blades iirmly attached -lthereto and the bottom head carries a continuous circumferential groove forming cooperative receiving cutters. By` arranging the knife blades at suitable locations on the periphery of the top slotter head the top slotter head drives the blades to nest in the rotatable receiving cutters at predetermined intervals. The blanks are fed at predetermined intervals between the top and bottom slotter heads at the same surface speed as the peripheral speed of the rotating slotter heads to cut slots in the moving material from its leading and trailing edges inwardly toward the middle of the blank.

The maximum length of blanks which can be slotted in such a manner is limited to the circumference of the knife carrying slotter heads. Many box makers, however, because of cost considerations, have limited the circumference of the knife carrying slotter heads to a size which is not large enough to cut frequently required long board lengths.

A means widely used with conventional slotters such as mentioned above for extending the range of slotting is the practice of skip-feeding the blanks to be slotted, i.e., feeding box blanks to the slotter heads every second stroke of the feed mechanism or, stated in another way, every second revolution of the slotter heads. Such skipfeeding, however, only extends the maximum length of box blanks a limited amount beyond the circumference of the knife carrying slotter heads, and this is usually not sutiicient to meet the present needs of box manufacturers.

This invention contemplates a power driven apparatus for slotting longitudinally moving material such as blanks for boxes wherein the apparatus has a power driven endless support having knives thereon which are adapted to nest sequentially in rotatable receiving cutters so as to slot material moving over said receiving cutters.

The above and further novel features of the invention will appear more fully from the following detailed description when the same is read in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are not intended as a definition of the invention but are for the purpose of illustration only.

FIG. 1 shows a partial cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of the apparatus shown in FIG. l.

FIG. 3 shows a detailed arrangement of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows a top view of material slotted by the apparatus of this invention as shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FiG. 1, a printer-scorer machine 11 similar to that described in U.S. Patent No. 2,191,988 is shown for use in the production of shipping containers made of corrugated board. A conventional reciprocating feed mechanism 13, which may be mounted on table 15, sequentially feeds at predetermined intervals, sheets of corrugated blanks 17, precut to the proper length and hereafter referred to as board 17, in a substantially horizontal plane to conventional driven pull rollers 19 and 21. A conventional power source (not shown) rotates roliers 19 and 21 and printing cylinders Z3 and Z5. Rollers 19 and 21 grip the board by compression and evenly feed the board to the printing cylinders 23 and 25 at t-he same surface speed as the peripheral surface speed of the printing cylinders. Printing cylinder 23 carries, on its periphery, dies (not shown) which are inked from a suitable ink source (not shown) through a roller stack 27. To this end roller 29 conventionally picks up ink by oscillating back and forth into the ink source or vat and alternately applies ink to the roller 31 which applies ink to the next adjacent inking roller 31. Each roller 31 evens the ink so applied on the next adjacent inking roller 31 so that ink is evenly applied to the dies mounted on the top printing cylinder 23. Roller 25, mounted and driven in a conventional manner, presses the board against these dies to print the board. The feed rate of feed 13 is coordinated with the rotation of printing cylinder 23 in a conventional manner so that the printing cylinder 23 registers the printing on the board at the desired location. Thereafter, the printed board is fed through other similar pull rollers 33 and 35 and other similar printing cylinders 37 and 39 carrying dies (not shown) which are inked in a similar manner by rollers 291, 271, and 311 for the printing of another color on the board if desired. The support and drive means for these pull rollers and printing cylinders is also conventional and the rotation of cylinder 37 is coordinated wit-h the rotation of printing cylinder 23 for the proper printing registration on the board. Subsequently, two tangentially opposed rotatable creasing rollers 4l and 43, each having narrow edges 45 which are ilat in cross section, score the printed board by compression. Other sets of creasing rollers (not shown) spaced axially from rollers il and S3 are conventionally provided on common shafts respectively, which are mounted and driven by conventional means (not shown) so as to crease the board at a plurality of locations A, B, and C (FIG. 5).

Conventionally, after scoring, the board is slotted at appropriate places along the scored portions of the board by co-acting opposed top and bottom slotter heads such as described in U.S. Patent No. 2,191,988. To this end the top slotter head, which in circumference is conventionally the largest slotter head, carries a iixed knife blade or blades, which are attached to the periphery of the top slotter head by set screws. As the blades rotate, they nest into a receiving groove comparable to groove 49 (FIG. 2) provided in the periphery of the bottom head 51 which is mounted on shaft 47 in spaced relation to the top slotter head with groove 49 forming a cooperating female cutter for the blades. Thereby slots of a length corresponding to the length of the cutting edge of the knife may be cut in the board when the knives carried by the top slotter yhead rotate into the groove in the cooperating bottom slotter head. Conventionally, there are as many pairs of slotter heads spaced axially from each other as there are pairs of creasing heads in which case the bottom and top slotter heads are arranged respectively on common shafts driven by conventional means and located in parallel relationship to the creasing heads to slot the board at appropriate places along each scored portion of the board. Conventionally, the same power source rotates the top slotter heads and the top 3 printing cylinders and both the top slotter heads and the top printing cylinders have the same circumference so that the printing and slotting operations are coordinated with each other in a conventional way to register the printing and the slotting on the board at the desired locations.

These slotter heads known heretofore have the limitation that they can only slot board, as described, having a length no greater than the circumference of the slotter head carrying the knife blades. Skip-feeding the board into the printer-slotter has the limitation of slotting board, as described, only a limited amount greater in length than the circumference of the slotter heads carrying the knife blades. Because of these limitations, the slotters known heretofore do not satisfactorily meet the present day demands for slotting long boards.

According to this invention, top slotter head 53 (FIGS. 1 and 2) is mounted on shaft 55 and held against relative rotation therewith by a key 57 so as to be in spaced opposing and co-acting relationship with bottom slotter head 51. Other top slotter heads (not shown) are spaced axially and respectively from head 53 on shaft 55 in parallel arrangement to the creasing rollers 41 and 43 so as to slot the board together with cutting means, to be described hereinafter, and cooperating bottom heads along scored portions A, B, and C (FIG. 5). Slotter heads 53 are held in suitable bearings (not shown) yand are rotated by a suitable power source (not shown) connected to shaft 55. The rotation of slotter head 53 is coordinated with the rotation of the printing cylinders 23 and 37 so that the slotting operation, to be described in more detail hereinafter, is coordinated' with the printing operation described above to register the printing and slotting on the board at the desired locations. This desired registration may be accomplished by substituting for the conventional top slotter head, described above mounted on a conventional shaft therefor, the slotter head 53 with its attachments, to be described hereinafter; the slotter head 53 having the same circumference as the replaced conventional slotter head.

Each head 53 is comprised of two sprockets 59 and 61 having a spacer 63 therebetween (FIGS. 2 and 4) which are connected together by bolts 65. These sprockets provide two circularly radiating arrays of teeth 67 separated by a groove 69 therebetween. The teeth 67 are adapted to drive a double roller chain 71 having rollers 73 which are interposed between links 75 (FIGS. 3 and 4) and held therebetween by cotter keys 77 at both ends of pins 79. Chain 71 has twice as many pitches as there are teeth 67 in each sprocket 59 or 61 of slotter head 53 so that the chain rotates once for every two revolutions of the slotter head 53. As descri-bed hereinafter, this arrangement allows the cutting of board twice the length of the circumference of slotter head 53.

The term pitches as used herein denes the gear teeth receiving openings of the lengths 75.

A11 idler sprocket 81 similar to slotter head S3 is mounted on idler shaft 83 which is disposed in suitable bearings (not shown) located at a suitable distance from slotter head 53 so as to hold the chain 71 taut. Two radiating arrays of teeth 85 are provided on idler 81 which are separated by a groove 87 and the arrays of teeth 8S mesh with the pitches of chain 71 to support the chain, in cooperation with slotter head 53, for rotation.

The chain 71 supports knives 89. These knives comprise segments of male blades 91 advantageously made of hardened steel. The knife blades 91 are mounted in a segmental longitudinally overlapping manner along the middle of the chain 71 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The blades are held on the chain by inserting two pins 79 through each blade and locking the pins in links 75 with quickly detachable snaps 93 adapted to t over the ends of the pins. Inner extensions 95 of the blades se- 4 quentially nest in grooves 69 and 87, without touching the bottom of the grooves, as the chain rotates on head 53 and idler 81 respectively. Groove 69 is particularly adapted to give side support and the proper alignment to outwardly extending cutting portions 97 of the blades 91 (FIG. 4) so that when the inwardly extending portions 95 nest in groove 69 the head 53 properly nests the cutting portions 97 in groove 49 of slotter head S1 for slotting of moving board. In order that cutting portions 97 may enter groove 49 in this manner, shafts 47 and 51 must, of course, be spaced apart the proper distance. The edges of the blades are tapered and clearance is provided between the edges of adjacent blades so that the blades can follow the change in curvature of the chain as it rotates without binding. It is important that the edge of one blade overlaps the next adjacent blade when the cutting portions 97 are nested' in groove 49 so as to make a continuous slot in the board which corresponds to the length E along the cutting edges of each knife 89. Advantageously more than one blade 91 is mounted in each knife 89 on chain 71 but the number and location of the blades depends on the length and location of the slots desired. For example, two knives 89 comprised of two groups of six knife blades 91 per group are shown in FIG. 2 so that each knife 89 cuts a slot having a length E1 equal to the distance E along the cutting edges of the six blades in each knife 89 and' the distance F1 between slots is determined by the distance F along the chain between the knives 89. l; is quite easy to change the number of blades 91 in each knife 89 and the spacing along the chain between each knife 89. For example to remove a blade 91 from chain 7'1 a snap 93 is removed from two pins 79 holding a blade 91 and the pins are removed part way from the chain. Then links 7S are inserted in the chain to replace the removed blade and the partially removed pins are reinserted all the way through the chain and snapped back in position with the removed snap 93. The same method in reverse is used to replace a blade. A blade may be added to the knives 89 in a similar manner, except that cotter keys may have to be removed and replaced instead of snaps. Using boards of uniform lengths, the removal of one knife blade from the ends H of the knives 89 makes the length E1 of the slots cut by the knives 89 smaller and the distance F1 between slots greater. The addition of one knife blade 91 to Athe ends H of the knives S9 makes the length E1 of the slots longer and the distance F1 between slots smaller. The distance F1 between slots as well as the length E1 of the slots is increased or decreased, as for exampie when using longer or shorter board, by changing the position of the knives 89 on the chain 71 and changing the number of blades 91 respectively, using the method described. When using one knife S9 it is possible to slot board in the manner described having a length equal to twice the circumference of the slotter head 53 because the chain 71 makes one revolution for every two of the head 53 as previously described. By using skip-feeding with this one knife arrangement, the length D1 of board which can be slotted is slightly longer than twice the circumference of the head 53. It is obvious that the changes in the length El of the slots, as well as the distance F1 between slots, are simple and quickly accomplished. The arrangement described also has the advantage over conventional slotters in that by changing the location of appropriate blades the slots may be easily registered on the board at the proper location. To this end the position of the chain 71 with respect to the slotter heads 53 lremains fixed and either the position of the blades along the chain is changed or blades of predetermined lengths are inserted or removed. This overcomes the disadvantages of damage to knives and difficulty of registration of slots when loosening and locking set screws and changing the position of knives attached to conventional slotter heads known heretofore.

In operation feed mechanism 13, which may be mounted on table 15, feeds corrugated board precut to the desired length at predetermined intervals, longitudinally to pull rollers 19 and 21. Thus the precut box blanks pass to the printing cylinders 23 and 25 in sequence and a blank may be printed, as described above, every time the cylinder 23 rotates. Thereafter the printed blanks are pulled through rollers 33 and 35 and fed to printing cylinders 37 and 39 for further printing in the same manner as with the printing applied by cylinder 231. Subsequently, the printed blanks are scored in sequence by the narrow edges 45 of the creasing rollers 41 and 43 which sflightly compress a narrow band along the surfaces of the board. This part of the operation is conventional. Thereafter the boards are longitudinally fed between slotter heads 51 and 53. The slotter head 53 rotates chain 71 to drive the blades 91 into nesting engagement with the groove 49, as the board 17 passes between the slotter heads 51 and 53. The knives 89 are properly spaced apart on chain 71 at a distance F and the distances E along the blades 91 are set, as described, so that every revolution of the chain 71 produces slots from the leading and trailing edges of the board inwardly to `an unslotted portion of the board 171 as it is fed between the heads 5-1 and 53. The length El of the slots corresponds to the distance E along the cutting edges of the blades and the distance .F1 between slots corresponds to the distance F between the knives.

Various modifications of the invention will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, this invention is not limited to the use of a chain for supportingjsegmental blades but any flexible endless type support such as a belt may be used. It is also to be understood that this novel slotting apparatus can be used in combination with Ia conventional printer-scorer or this novel slotting apparatus may be used apart from such conventional machines. For example, a suitable feed mechanism may be arranged to feed material to the slotting heads 51 and 53 at suitable intervals for slotting board at predetermined locations. Also the llength of the chain may be longer or shorter than described by changing the location of the idler 81.

Tests have shown that this invention satisfactorily makes possible the slotting of top and bottom flaps in *longitudinally moving sheets wherein the maximum length of the box blank being slotted is not limited by the circumference of the driving means for the knife blades but is only limited by the length of the endless supporting means for the knife blades.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for sequentially forming an open-ended slot in the leading edge and an open-ended slot in the trailing edge of a longitudinally moving sheet of material of predetermined length comprising an endless link chain having a predetermined number of pitches; a sprocket drive wheel mounted on a power-driven shaft for rotation thereby and engaged with said chain in driving relationship; said sprocket drive wheel having a predetermined number of teeth; a rotatably-mounted idler sprocket Wheel spaced from said sprocket drive wheel and engaged with said chain; first and second male cutting means mounted in spaced relationship directly on said chain for cireuitous carriage thereby; each of said male cutting means comprising several relatively movable knife blade segments `arranged in a series relationship extending length- Wise of said chain with the cutting edges of adjacent blade segments remaining in longitudinally overlapping arrangement throughout the circuitous carriage; and means colacting in sequence with said blade segments as said male cutting means are carried by said chain in an arcuate path in contact with said sprocket drive wheel; said coacting means, said sprocket drive wheel and said idler sprocket wheel being disposed in a common plane with said coacting means adjacent said sprocket drive wheel.

2. Apparatus for cutting slots in a sheet of material moving in a substantially llinear direction in a substantially constant plane comprising in `combination an endless conveyor disposed for movement in a plane extending in said linear direction substantially perpendicular to said constant plane, a pair of cutting knives mounted in spaced relationship directly on said conveyor, each of said cutting knives comprising several relatively movable blade segments arranged in a series relationship extending lengthwise of said conveyor with the cutting edges of adjacent blade segments in longiutdinally overlapping arrangement, each of said blade segments having an alignment portion extending inwardly of said conveyor away from said cutting edges, a circular female cutting disc having a peripheral recess formed therein, said female cutting disc being mounted with its axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to the plane of said conveyor and with its periphery adjacent to and outside the loop of said conveyor, driving means of circular cross-section for moving said conveyor in said loop, said driving means being mounted with its axis of rotation perpendicular to said plane of said conveyor and having an annular groove formed therein to successively receive the alignment portions of said blade segments as said cutting knives are moved in an arcuate path by said conveyor around a portion of the periphery of said driving means, said driving means and Said female cutting disc being so oriented relative to each other that a line passing through their respective axes of rotation and lying in the plane of said conveyor would be substantially perpendicular to said constant plane and the distance between said axes of rotation is sufiicient to permit successive pontions of said cutting edges of said blade segments to enter said peripheral recess as said conveyor and said cutting knives are carried in sequence in an arcuate path between said female cutting disc and said driving means, said overlapping cutting edges cooperating with said peripheral recess to produce a continuous slot in said sheet.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein each of the first and lsecond male cutting means is formed of equal cutting lengths whereby equal length slots are formed in the leading and trailing edges.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the number of teeth in the sprocket and the number of pitches in the chain are in the ratio of 2:1.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the male cutting means are detachably mounted on the chain.

6. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the chain comprises a tandem chain having the links secured in side-by-side relation.

7. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the chain comprises a tandem chain having the links secured in side-by-side relationship and the male cutting means are detachably secured between the side-by-side links.

8. The invention -as defined in claim 1 in which the sprocket comprises transversely spaced rows of teeth forming a groove therebetween and the male cutting means are formed with extensions receivable within the groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,107,625 Martin Aug. 18, 1914 1,150,217 Martin Aug. 17, 1915 1,478,998 Howard et al. Jan. 1, 1924 1,601,201 Paw Sept. 28, 1926 1,687,522 Staude Oct. 16, 1928 1,737,146 `Castricum Nov. 261, 1929 2,346,046 Ogden Apr. 4, 1944 2,446,774 Mall Aug. 10, 1948 2,547,157r Gibbons Apr. 3, 1951 2,784,784 Haumann Mar. 12, 1957 2,787,323 Antwerpen et al. Apr. 2, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 673,036 Germany Mar. 15, 1939 

